“That win [over HKCC] was significant for us on a number of levels, not least because it was against the league leaders and also because we were short of a number of players,” West said.

Fly-half Niall Rowark scored all 16 points for HKFC, including a second-half try, as they won only their second game in seven attempts. The win drew them level on points with fourth-placed Abacus Kowloon, but narrowly behind on point difference.

With only the top four entering the Grand Championship, West admitted that is the only realistic goal left to his team after their poor start has already put the league title out of reach.

“It is rewarding for the players who have been putting in a lot of hard work and needed to see some reward for that. Last week should also give us some confidence building up to the game against Hong Kong Scottish,” he said.

“However, we are not delusional and know that we still have a number of things to improve on and need to prepare assiduously if we want another result. We played Scottish in the first game of the season and that was a match that was definitely snatched away from us, so a top quality performance and result is what we require this weekend,” West added.

Hong Kong Scottish will want to improve leaps and bounds on last week’s patchy victory over bottom-of-the-table Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers. Scottish scored three tries in the first 15 minutes and led 24-0 at one point before desperately resisting the Tigers’ fightback to eke out a 30-17 victory.

Yet Hong Kong Scottish general manager Dave Whiteford prefers to focus on the positives.

“We showed guts to grind out the win in the end. It was strange as we started incredibly well and then fell apart in the middle of the match,” he said.

“We have come through relatively unscathed considering we made over 160 tackles in that match.”

It could be more of the same against HKFC, whose pack is bound to match the intensity showed by Tigers last Saturday.

“HKFC showed they are still a real threat on their day by knocking off HKCC and I’m sure they will be looking to climb back into the top four with a win over us,” Whiteford said.

“We sneaked a close one on the opening day against them and I’m sure Saturday will be another tight battle. Football Club are always strong at home, too.”

HK Scottish will be missing a number of key players with number eight Kane Boucaut the biggest injury worry after he hurt his ankle during the warm-up before the Tigers’ game.

Buoyed by their performance last week, Tigers will take on Kowloon with renewed gusto in hope of breaking their 31-match losing streak stretching back to October 2012.

“A disappointing 15 minutes proved costly versus Hong Kong Scottish last weekend, where inaccuracies in our defence early on allowed them to capitalise and take a big lead,” said Tigers rugby director Chris Davies.

“But our players showed a lot of character to come back and our set-piece functioned well, which was pleasing.”

Meanwhile, HKCC will be hoping to put the setback behind them, but they won’t have it easy as they host Societe Generale Valley and their dangerous backline at Aberdeen Sports Ground.

Valley, who scored a bonus-point 26-10 victory over Kowloon last Saturday, will pose a threat and will be looking to overturn the 12-9 result when the two sides met on the first day of the season in September.

They also know a win could see them draw level with HKCC at the top of the standings.